England under DaveK

[DaveK93]

Hey mate is there any chance you could post overall england averages from first season?

I'll see what I can sort out, they should be up later on.

[DaveK93]

Hey mate is there any chance you could post overall england averages from first season?

Would the top 5 English players from each category I've previously used be ok? Otherwise it could be a very time consuming process. I'm quite happy to post screenshots of players though, if there are any particular ones.

[UTBash]

Would the top 5 English players from each category I've previously used be ok? Otherwise it could be a very time consuming process. I'm quite happy to post screenshots of players though, if there are any particular ones.

yeah top 5's would be fine

[DaveK93]

yeah top 5's would be fine

On the basis that I ended up with more time than I thought, the full averages for each format will soon be available. Unfortunately, I haven't got the World Rankings available, due to the fact a series has been played since I did the stats post.

[DaveK93]

As requested, here are the England averages across all three formats for last season. I'll try remember to put them in the actual stats post next time!

England Test Stats:



England ODI Stats:



England T20I Stats:

[DaveK93]

First Test:

Teams:

England:
A Strauss
A Cook
I Bell
E Morgan
M Prior
S Broad
G Swann
J Harris
J Anderson
S Finn

James Taylor misses out, as I want to have another look at Eoin Morgan.

New Zealand:
B Watling
B McCullum
R Taylor
J Ryder
D Brownlie
K Williamson
N Wagner
D Bracewell
M Henry
C De Grandhomme
T Boult

Toss:
Match Report: England lose the toss and bowl.

Day 1:
We bowled out NZ for 239, after some good work from the seam bowlers. McCullum and Williamson were the main performers of the innings, but Broad took 4 wickets, and Anderson took 3, as we skittled them.
We then battled through to 18-0 by the end of play, Cook already showing attacking intent by hitting Bracewell for 6 in the first over.

Day 2:
We finished the day on 297-1 after some good, sensible batting. Cook fell for 48, hitting 3 sixes in the process (!), but Strauss and Bell were still in at the close of play, Strauss on 157*, Bell 86*. 10 sixes had been hit on day 2, 4 to Strauss, in what was one of the more aggressive test innings I’ve seen by England.

Day 3:
We finished today on 584-7, as both Strauss and Bell got double centuries. NZ for a while had no answer to either of them, and it’s a shame the rest of the batting order kept getting out. Bell is still at the crease though, so we look to him to push the total higher.

Day 4:
We finally finished on 679, after Bell finally fell for 307. This left us 5 sessions to remove NZ, which should be plenty of time. There will also be a screenshot of Bell’s stats for his 307 accompanying this post.
New Zealand were left with a fight to avoid an innings defeat, after they finished on 182-5, Harris getting 3 wickets. Ryder, Watling and Williamson have all gone, which is good considering the problems they caused me in New Zealand earlier this year.

Day 5:
Game over. Harris and Anderson cleaned up despite some late resistance from the tail-enders. A comfortable win, and we now hold a 1-0 lead in the two match series. So, at least we cannot lose the series, which will be morale boosting ahead of the Ashes.



Batting Award: Ian Bell. Do I really have to explain why? But just in case you do want an explanation, here are his stats:



Bowling Award: James Harris. Bowled very well in the second innings, and is starting to become a very good bowler.

[DaveK93]

Second Test Squad:

We can’t lose the series, so I’m ringing the changes.

England:
A Strauss
V Chopra
I Bell
K Pietersen
J Trott
M Prior
C Woakes
R Topley
J Tredwell
J Harris
T Roland-Jones
J Dernbach

Rather than fielding an inexperienced squad, I decided to bring back some of the original England batsmen. Bowling wise, Tredwell, and R-J get their chance to shine. Harris and Topley battle for the last seamer place.

[DaveK93]

Sorry I've not posted for a little while folks, I've not been able to find the time! Still, I move back to university next week, so before term starts, I should have some time

[DaveK93]

Second Test:

England:[/B]
A Strauss
V Chopra
I Bell
K Pietersen
J Trott
M Prior
C Woakes
R Topley
J Tredwell
T Roland-Jones
J Dernbach

Harris is rested, as Woakes needs to prove he can play at test level. The Kiwis bring in Gillespie for Wagner.

Toss: NZ win the toss and bowl.

Match Report:

Day 1:
It would appear Strauss has no intention of being dropped again. He hit another century as we got to 300-4. Ian Bell dropped 7 runs short of another, but has hit 400 runs this series, a great achievement. Chopra failed, as did Trott, and Pietersen couldn’t build on a decent start.

Day 2:
We finished on 531, but I’m not entirely sure how I can drop Strauss. On his 100th Test for England, he hit 242, and led the innings from the front. It completely alters my plans for the ashes, and I can see him and Cook opening, Hales at 3, Bell 4, Taylor 5, Bairstow 6, Prior 7. We end up with 4 bowlers, but if Strauss continues like this, we’ll have plenty of runs to cover us.

NZ got to 69-0 by the end of play.

Day 3:
NZ finished on 337, after some fine work by the bowlers. Ryder infuriated me once again, but Tredwell bowled well, and Woakes got a couple of wickets. Taylor also got some runs, but we missed out on the follow on by 6 runs, so we will have to push for the win. We finished on 2-0 by the end of play.

Day 4:
We put on a quick-fire 300-8, before declaring. Pietersen and Strauss hit runs quickly and there were useful contributions from the rest of the order, as we made sure that we had a total to defend, and potentially win the match with. We gave the Kiwis 4 sessions to chase.

New Zealand face an uphill struggle to save the match, as they lost 5 wickets for 82 in the last session. Woakes and Roland Jones took 2 wickets each as New Zealand looked to be falling to a heavy defeat.

Day 5:
Despite the resistance of De Grandhomme and Williamson, New Zealand crumbled, and we bowled them out for 217. R-J and Woakes both picked up 4 wickets in an impressive performance by England.



Batting Award: Andrew Strauss, continues his good form with a second double century.
Bowling Award: Toby Roland-Jones, a respectable performance on debut.

[DaveK93]

With the test series done, it’s time for the stats! Look at them in all their glory!

[DaveK93]

ODI SQUADS

The ODI squads are in, and two very strong squads have been selected for this series!

England:



A strong squad for the English, with 4 keepers selected by England. A team with a mix of experience and youth, the only person missing really is Alex Hales, who is still sidelined with a hamstring injury. He'll get his place back though, although I'm not sure who for yet.

New Zealand:



The Kiwis don't appear to have changed their squad at all.

A new feature!

Apart from an extended use of screenshots, I'm going to introduce the Man to Watch feature for each series, for each country. I could do with a bit more detail added, and this seems like a nice, fun-filled idea!


Man To Watch:

England:
For England, the man to watch will be Chris Woakes I reckon. He's been superb in the 50 over format for me, and I expect this will continue here.

NZ:
Jesse Ryder: The thorn in my side when playing NZ so far. A talented performer, the Black Caps will be relying on him to perform.

[DaveK93]

FIRST ODI:

Teams:



Toss: NZ win the toss and elect to bowl.

Match Report:
By all accounts, this was a fairly low scoring match. Neither team really managed to get going. England batted first, with Cook and Davies opening.It was a reasonably slow start, which set the tone for the rest of the innings. Only Cook managed to pass 50, and were it not for some late hitting by Broad and Woakes, we may not have even reached 200. Still, I had to hope that the pitch was just as difficult for them as it was for us.

Fortunately it was. The Kiwis struggled at the start as well, and despite some quick scoring by McCullum, especially off of Finn, it wasn’t anywhere near enough. Woakes and Swann tied the scoring rate down, in the middle of the order. The tail-enders had a crack, and started hitting out, but ultimately they couldn’t quite reach the target.



Batting Award: A Cook, only batsman to get a half century, and led from the front.
Bowling Award: C Woakes, as he was so much more economical in his 10 overs than Finn or Swann were.

[DaveK93]

Second ODI:

Teams:



England replace Anderson with Danny Briggs. NZ bring in Guptill for De Boorder.

Toss: NZ win the toss and bat.

Match Report:

Given we had NZ at 36-5, I’m slightly disappointed. Broad and Finn were unplayable, as we completely crippled the Kiwi batting line-up. Had it not been for De Grandhomme and Wagner, the total could have been really embarrassing.

We lost Cook and Davies cheaply, but Buttler took control, and Bell joined him to see the match safely through, and also confirm a series victory.



Batting Award: Jos Buttler, scored his 81 at over a run a ball.
Bowling Award: Steven Finn, a devastating opening spell of bowling yielding 4 wickets.

[DaveK93]

Third ODI:

Teams:



Bairstow, Topley, and Harris all come in for Swann, Broad and Cook. De Boorder in for Guptill for NZ.

Toss: NZ win the toss and bat.

Match Report:
A dead rubber, I’m not going to read too much into it. Needless to say, we didn’t have enough depth in our batting to quite manage. Jesse Ryder finally showed up though, much to my disappointment.



Batting Award: Jonny Bairstow, valiantly battled against increasingly difficult odds.
Bowling Award: Steven Finn, another 4 wickets, he’s in marvellous form ahead of the Ashes.

Stats to follow!

[DaveK93]

As promised, the stats!

England:




New Zealand:



I'm keeping the same squad for the T20I's, as are NZ, so straight on with them.